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Post by Alex on Jul 20, 2021 13:26:24 GMT
Went to Sainsburys earlier and about 75% of the shoppers and staff were in masks still which surprised me, though they were typically an older section of the community. I expect that to change when the office workers are in for lunch Popped into the little Tesco on Curzon Street in London at lunchtime and it was probably near 75/25 the other way. Likewise on the train to Victoria this morning although it was really quiet so not too much of a concern. I was on a table on my own so I took mine off for a while because it was so stuffy. Not going to feel guilty about that really though. I'm double jabbed and my lateral flow test I took before breakfast was negative. Had it been busier and someone wished to sit the other side of the table I'd have put it back on. I think that's common courtesy and a sensible approach. I appreciate that's not going to make me popular but with how hot it was and how few people were anywhere near me, I felt the risk was low enough for it to make no difference if I worn my mask or not.
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Post by Alex on Jul 19, 2021 12:32:40 GMT
Agree it's hard to sympathise with Max. He knew Lewis was there but turned in anyway on the basis that Lewis would show a bit of sportsmanship and brake had to let him have the corner. You know, like he did at Imola when he tried to take the lead on lap 1 but didn't want Hamilton to be forced off track. Oh, hold on a minute...
I know why Max and Christian Horner were upset by the outcome but the latter was being a right whinger in the post race interviews and the C4 team all seemed to let him get away with accusing Lewis of dirty tactics with no challenge. Max has to realise that Lewis is a 7x champ for a reason and isn't about to roll over and have his tummy rubbed at his home GP!
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Post by Alex on Jul 19, 2021 12:20:40 GMT
I watched that. He's one lucky bugger to have a garage like that. Fair play to him though, he does actually drive his cars. It's not a museum.
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Post by Alex on Jul 18, 2021 20:28:30 GMT
Agree that it was a racing incident but I also see why the stewards had to give a penalty due to the serious resultant crash. Severe sour grapes from Horber and Max. When Max almost took out Lewis at the beginning of the Monza race leading to Lewis taking evasive action that cost him the lead, the Red Bull line was that it was hard but fair racing. When the tables are turned but their driver doesn't have time sense to avoid contact it's wreckless driving.
One thing is for sure, the next race between Max and Lewis in Hungary should be interesting!
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Post by Alex on Jul 17, 2021 19:40:29 GMT
There is that to consider!
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Post by Alex on Jul 17, 2021 16:57:24 GMT
It involved a Danish wheelchair manufacturer, a trip to China to get their factory to work with ours and the back brakes were from Italy but fitted in Newcastle..... Oh and we have loads of hire vans as we can't have 2 people sharing a van at the moment.... Sounds like a cheap fix…..!! Why can’t 2 share a van now? Union issue or your policy? We weren’t allowed 2 in a unit which made new driver assessments very difficult, but with masks it’s now OK (I know they are further apart than in a van) and it’s not like your guys will in there for hours. If you can sit next to a stranger on a plane, I don’t see why you can’t sit next to a colleague (for a shorter period) in a van. Our company policy on not car sharing is being lifted from Monday and even the we have to continue to wear masks and ensure we keep doing our home Covid tests.
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Post by Alex on Jul 17, 2021 16:53:57 GMT
Sorry to hear that Mike. As much as you would be frustrated waiting to cross, I would not have let you cross for the very reason that there's no telling what someone else may do. It could end up with the situation you experienced or a driver behind going into the back of me. I'm afraid that 9x out of 10 its safer for all concerned to let pedestrians make their own judgement as to when it's safe to cross.
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Post by Alex on Jul 16, 2021 20:38:45 GMT
I expect tyre grip could be a limiting factor so to go faster you'll need stickier tyres that will probably wear a lot quicker. All for a once in the car's lifetime full bore run to 60. In theory road cars have met their limit bearing in mind its not just the tyres that are a limiting factor but also the road surface itself. That said its not impossible to go faster. Drag racers use burn outs to put rubber down onto the start line instead of starting off on tarmac. Apparently (according to our friends at Wikipedia) some of the top fuel dragsters can reach 60 in around 0.8 seconds. But to achieve that they also have about 10,000hp which might even be beyond Tesla's ability to match!
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Cazoo
Jul 16, 2021 20:25:23 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Jul 16, 2021 20:25:23 GMT
All I know of Cazoo, other than hearing Ed Gamble bleating on about them, is that they've become a new customer of our company and are spending a fair bit of money of which they seem to have plenty floating about.
As to how good value they are compared to a traditional dealer I dont know. They seem to work on a no haggle basis. The price you see is what you pay. I think Cinch are the same. Aren't We Buy Any Car part of BCA too? Perhaps one supplies the other with stock to a degree.
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Post by Alex on Jul 16, 2021 8:01:45 GMT
What's the point in sending a year group home, shouldn't it be the whole school or don't they share rooms and corridors anymore Given that other year groups have also had kids dropping out like flies I suspect the rest of the school wont make it to next Friday's end of term (we finish a lot later than Scotland)
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Post by Alex on Jul 15, 2021 21:49:57 GMT
I'm waiting to see what the price of the PHEV model is going to be. I'm tempted to look at it next year when I'm due a new car.
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Post by Alex on Jul 15, 2021 21:45:02 GMT
What's the likelihood of any data ever being released on the percentage of children sent home to isolate who later tested positive for Covid. I suspect it's quite a low number.
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Post by Alex on Jul 15, 2021 17:30:31 GMT
You do have to ask who comes up with this tripe. The condition of the various RM vans delivering the post in our area is something else. Lately its a 05 plate Vauxhall Combo van with paint so faded it was pink and dents in every panel. What does moving a few managers of a certain grade or above do to your carbon footprint as a business. Our postie drives round in a battered combo which is also an 05 plate and sounds like a bag of nails. Must be about time they invested in some newer vans. Maybe being in a rural area they don't have so much pressure from local councils to have cleaner vehicles.
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Golf R
Jul 15, 2021 17:27:12 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Jul 15, 2021 17:27:12 GMT
Our local VW dealer has a dark grey R estate 2020 model with 4k miles up for £35k. Given the new model is now out that's a pretty strong price.
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Post by Alex on Jul 15, 2021 17:21:58 GMT
Well my daughter has finished school early for summer. They've had too many cases to properly work out all the close contacts so they've closed school to her entire year group and sent them to work from home.
Earlier on I was walking through town and overheard a woman on the phone telling whoever she was speaking to that she was taking her kids out of school next week to make sure their holiday doesn't get ruined if they get told to isolate. What a ridiculous state of affairs.
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Post by Alex on Jul 15, 2021 9:08:59 GMT
I've turned mine off now because I agree with you. As long as I'm not ill and I'm taking the government approved home tests at least twice a week I'm not going to feel guilty about getting out there. I will continue to socially distance wherever possible and wear a mask whenever I'm somewhere that asks me to or where it's a legal requirement (until Monday). That's more or less what personal responsibility should look like.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 22:11:07 GMT
We've recently had our co car policy reviewed and they've decided not to go full EV for now simply because a lot of business trips (eg. Horsham to Manchester or Leeds) cannot be done on the range of most EVs currently on the market. We've got two domestic style wall plugs at the office but cannot add any extra because the power supply to our building doesn't have the capacity (bear in mind we are also running a water testing laboratory on site). Thus we cant charge a fleet at the office. The policy does allow PHEV but for my grade the budget for new cars is £30,500. Given that most PHEVs start at between 31k and 35k depending on brand/model that means my next car will likely have to be regular hybrid.
Only trouble is there aren't many out there. The Ioniq is no longer in production and I believe the Nero is going out too. Most other brands are PHEV or EV with the exception of Toyota. Bit annoying as senior managers get more budget so can have a PHEV and enjoy the lower tax rates they benefit from but those of us in a lower position have to pay more tax.
I'm not due a new car until mid 2022 so the budget might have crept up by then and more cars might have entered the market. I'll worry about it then.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 22:00:48 GMT
Regarding the legality of isolating if you get a ping from T&T, you are right Garry but a lot of organisations require staff who get a ping to isolate as part of their Covid response. As a consultant visiting numerous customer sites I'm constantly being asked to declare whether T&T has asked me to isolate.
My wife was off school last week because she was pinged and whilst she did as she was told, she did go out for a walk in the local fields most days as she was symptom free and knew she wouldn't see anyone. Although she was perfectly well and had negative lateral flow tests the day before being pinged, her school told her to stay away as that was policy.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 21:52:19 GMT
Quite an interesting video this week looking at how JCB are developing hydrogen powered internal combustion engines.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 20:08:57 GMT
As I mentioned a few days ago, T&T is a building into a massive issue. I've got over 16% of my warehouse staff off in Swindon, the vast majority is because they've been 'pinged'. That's £2m worth of stock I can't get out a week just from one warehouse, if this keeps going along with the huge driver shortage it won't be long before shelves are starting to empty in supermarkets. But please don't start panic buying..... This is being replicated across the country in all sectors. There's growing calls for those being pinged to be allowed to carry on as normal so long as they have a negative test themselves and been double jabbed, which would make sense so long as we can be confident that the lateral flow tests are accurate enough. The frustration for a lot of employers is that even of they follow all the rules such as distancing and mask wearing in the workplace, their staff are still being pinged which makes all the money spent on PPE and perspex panels seem a complete waste.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 20:04:10 GMT
The Delta variant is a lot more transmissable and I heard today that the R number is as high as 5-6 in some areas. The UK was fifth in global cases yesterday (and over the past week) but 33rd in the world for deaths suggesting the vaccine is working. It's not surprising that Boris is being heavily criticised for lifting all restrictions. 5th for cases (of course as per the above discussions we are testing a lot more) and 33rd for deaths. The vaccine is working. So it ought to be surprising that Boris is being heavily criticised, not the other way round. Too many vested interests seem to want permanent lock down and restrictions - they will not be satisfied unless we adopt a zero covid strategy. Which is impossible. So, permanent lock downs is what they want. That's why it's not surprising that Boris is being criticised. It's the one thing he's done right but it's a gift that just keeps giving for the tories and they know that the public at large love him for it.
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Golf R
Jul 14, 2021 13:37:30 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 13:37:30 GMT
The new Leon cupra wagon looks that good I wouldn’t even consider the R It does look good but clearly their marketing department haven't sold you on the idea the Cupra is the brand now not a trim level! The interior looks a bit better than the Golf but still gets the same touch bars for the temperature and volume controls. If Skoda can put the 300bhp engine in the Octavia vRS it would be a much better proposition to the Gokf R estate.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 13:28:18 GMT
Isn't it already the case that younger people ARE being more widely affected by the virus much more than they were a year ago simply due to, shock horror, it mutating in that pesky way that viruses do? The Delta variant is a lot more transmissable and I heard today that the R number is as high as 5-6 in some areas. The UK was fifth in global cases yesterday (and over the past week) but 33rd in the world for deaths suggesting the vaccine is working. It's not surprising that Boris is being heavily criticised for lifting all restrictions.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 13:25:17 GMT
I know this thread is primarily based on iPhones being the best phone to have but I moved to android at my last upgrade going from an iPhone SE to a Samsung A50 and I'm loathe to go back. When I originally moved to iphone it was a game changer compared to android but that really doesn't seem the case now and the A50 has been pretty much faultless with the only slight issue being that the USB C socket is a bit dodgy as it's got a bit too much pocket lint but then my last iPhone had the same issue. It's now 2 years old and Vodafone have just notified me I can upgrade but tbh I might just stick to this handset and go sim only for now.
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Post by Alex on Jul 14, 2021 13:14:33 GMT
I had my second jab last night and the doctor surgery had a queue of people my age or slightly older. There was little evidence of 20somthings lining up for their jab. But that was just at the time I was there so it's purely anecdotal but i have heard a lot about younger people being much more reluctant to come forward. I cant help wondering that rather than being scared of the jab or worried about long term effects, they just can't be bothered.
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Post by Alex on Jul 10, 2021 9:01:49 GMT
I still dont quite understand how they've managed to basically copy the Defender without LR throwing a wobbly and whilst meeting modern emissions/ crash standards which LR said were the reasons the Defender could no longer be built. Have they done some sort of deal with LR for the rights to the design?
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Defender
Jul 10, 2021 8:46:28 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Jul 10, 2021 8:46:28 GMT
I like them, but I they are definitely not a farm utility vehicle. I saw two in Petworth last week, both occupied by blonde horsey types, sunglasses on head. I see a lot of them in the more fashionable parts of the Cotswolds, too. I live not far from Petworth and you do see a lot of them round here. They don't seem to have targeted people who bought the previous Defender and I can imagine a lot of people in that market are disappointed at how upmarket and expensive the new one is. But there clearly wasn't a big enough market and enough farmers buying one so I can see why LR took it in a different direction. Its definitely much more popular with upper middle class families who would have had a RR Sport but the kids/dogs keep getting it utterly filthy. This solves that problem and is much more practical in terms of interior space. And for a lot of people in that market it is still a very cool car and the one to be seen in. I'm also missing that 'want one' factor. It's a good car but doesn't leap out at me as something I desire to own. I've not even been particularly desperate to chuck 150 notes in Lego's direction for their model either.
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Golf R
Jul 9, 2021 17:17:18 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Jul 9, 2021 17:17:18 GMT
I just saw a mk8 R estate and I must say it doesn't look as good as the previous generation estate. They appear to have made it slightly longer but its given it slightly too long a rear overhang. Didn't help that the one I saw hadn't been painted. For some reason VW just put on the primer and forgot the top coat.
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Golf R
Jul 8, 2021 7:56:53 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Jul 8, 2021 7:56:53 GMT
Perhaps the combo of the tight fitting roof and the former suspension of the R doesn't go down well with the lunar-surface-like roads we have in this country.
Glad you still like it though. The mk8 doesn't feel like a step on from the 7 to be honest so you're probably going to want to look elsewhere if you eventually decide to move on. I know a Boxster doesn't have rear seats but a toddler could fit in the back of a 911...
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Post by Alex on Jul 6, 2021 16:01:59 GMT
F1 are determined to have a 23 race calendar so I imagine they'll replace it with either a double header at one of the other upcoming races or go back to one of the circuits they visited last year. The Tuscan GP at Mugello went down quite well last year (except with Ferrari fans perhaps as well as the 4 drivers who messed up the end of the safety car) so could be worth bringing in again this year.
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